DNA methylation

DNA methylation is an epigenetic mark involved in embryonic development, transcription, chromosome stability and genomic imprinting. Aberrant methylation is implicated in the appearance of several disorders such as cancer, immunodeficiency or centromere instability.

NGSmethDB is a dedicated database for the storage, browsing and data mining of whole-genome, single-base-pair resolution methylomes. We collect NGS data from high-throughput sequencing together with bisulfite conversion of DNA from literature and public repositories, then generating high-quality chromosome methylation maps for many different tissues, pathological conditions and species.

A coupled next-generation genome-browser allows the visualization of methylation maps in a genomic context. In addition, we provided a direct link to the UCSC Track Hub facility, thus allowing the comparison of methylomes with many other third-part annotations. Database-mining and statistical tools allow the user to download, filter, analyze and retrieve methylation data in many different ways.

Finally, we also provided a connection to CpGislandEVO, a database joining together CpG islands and methylation data which allows for the comparative evolutionary analysis of CpG islands in the best assembled mammalian genomes.